DA urges Nzimande to specify when Higher Education institutions will be partially and then fully reopened

21 April 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the push by the Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology towards reopening campuses in time to save the 2020 academic year.

The DA is fully committed to a partial and gradual reopening of Higher Education in time to rescue the academic year, especially for final year students. The country cannot afford to allow entire cohorts of students to fail to graduate, and to crowd out our campuses in 2021.

We also welcome the Department’s commitment to embracing online and “blended” learning as a result of the Covid epidemic.  Not only will this assist students during lockdown and partial lockdown, it will be a vital part of our future education system.

The Department and individual Universities and TVETS have made great strides in developing online teaching, assessing its future possibilities, engaging cell-phone companies, seeking free data, using data-sticks, developing loan facilities for devices, getting textbooks put online, putting courses on TV and Radio and many other interventions.

We acknowledge that these efforts are partial and incomplete, but believe this is a good start which fits with what the DA has been calling for.

Because the Department’s plans are still partial and tentative in many respects and we  urge the Minister to develop more detailed plans in relation to the following:

What the date is for partial or full opening – we urgently need precision on this;

How social distancing will be handled in classrooms and residences once partial or full opening takes place;

How testing and quarantining for Covid19 will be expanded and applied to Higher Education institutions;

How NSFAS will cope if the academic year is extended and additional funds need to found;

What exactly will be done to cater for students without access to the internet and/or without their own devices; and

What will be done about practical courses requiring laboratory and hands-on teaching?

Inequality of access to online education is an ongoing issue which requires careful and detailed attention. Students with little or no access to internet and/or devices need imaginative approaches (some of which are indeed already included in the Department’s proposals). In some cases the only solution might be to bring such students back onto campuses where they can use campus facilities to access online teaching where needed.

The DA will continue to monitor developments in this sector with diligence and focus.

Issued by Belinda Bozzoli, DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, 21 April 2020